A Dim Present and Future
by GlitchGirl23
Summary: After a strenuous summer that's left Tea a little rattled she's determined to enjoy the new school year...That plan is ruined thanks to Seto Kaiba and his need for ownership of her creation. Not only that but Bakura returns to place ownership upon her!
1. Prologue

**J: Hello my little lovelies! I have here the beginning of the sequel most have been looking forward to...or so I hope they have. But anyways, just like the prequel if you have questions don't hesitate in asking and I may or may not be able to answer! ANF fyi for those that are looking at this and thinking 'this is making no sense' then you need to read the predecessor to this fanfiction called 'A Dark Past and Present' otherwise you will be lost on most of the story provided. Good? Good! On to the reading!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the yugioh characters, but I shall forever continue to look for a real life Marik and Bakura!**

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**Prologue**

'Hair up or hair down?...hair definitely up, just to make a different impression.' Tea Gardener stood in front of her bedroom's grand vanity mirror deciding on her appearance for the first day of school, which would be the very next day. The day she was actually looking forward to. The past few weeks had been very stressful to say the least.

First she'd come across her possessed friend Ryou, had just barely stopped herself from falling in love with him but still got cursed! Then to top it all off the evil spirit Bakura had released her evil second soul Anzu. Tea had then been put in the Oblivion Zone bound in shadow chains and almost dragged into the Shadow Realm. If it weren't for the stupidity of Bakura kidnapping Mokuba to control Anzu she would have been put in the Shadow Realm for sure. Because everyone (except Bakura at the time) knows that you can't kidnap Mokuba Kaiba without Seto Kaiba, head honcho of Kaiba Corp. and older brother of Mokuba, knowing and coming after you in pursuit. Seto had caught Bakura in the act, called Yugi (who'd just gotten home from Egypt) then went straight to Tea's house.

Yugi and Yami had found Tea (and Ryou who had also been sent to the Oblivion Zone) put together a plan, succeeded in executing the plan, setting Tea free. Bakura used his Millennium Ring to separate them into two people before Tea could take control of her body. That then led to a Dark Dance Duel, which Tea had just barely won, and banished Anzu back to the Shadow Realm. Just to spite the unhelpful Bakura Anzu had removed the curse from Tea that allowed him to control her, and then made sure that Ryou could never be banished from his own body again. Totally pissed Bakura had vanished into the shadows promising Tea he would see her again. Those words had bothered her throughout the rest of the summer. It had bothered Yugi, Yami, Joey and Tristan more, so much so that they'd taken turns watching over Tea's house every night. After a week her dad had scared them off.

'And I'm more than positive someone took my journal! Yami told me it wasn't likely to have been left in the Shadow Realm.' Tea puffed out her cheeks remembering the countless hours she's spent trying to find the black leather bound book she'd kept since grade three.

Flopping backwards on her bed Tea sighed out loud to herself," If I ever find that journal I'm definitely hiding it on my ceiling, some way some how it's hiding on my ceiling."

"TEA! I request your attendance in the living room!" 'Uh oh, Dad must have found the broken dishes, I bet Mom hasn't spoken up for the three dishes SHE broke!' Rolling her eyes at how weird her parents were Tea quickly obeyed orders and scurried out to the living room.

Before she got all the way she began explaining," Don't go blaming me for all the broken dishes Dad, Mom took care of the humming bird plates!" Coming into view she was surprised to see a raised eyebrow on her army general father's forehead and her brainy mother making a cutting motion across her throat. What surprised her the most was a young Mokuba Kaiba sitting on the couch trying not to laugh.

Tea blinked twice to register this addition, when it finally computed Tea blatantly asked," What are you doing here Mokuba?"

"If he spoke truth fully, he has decided to run away from home. As for the reason, he says that information is classified to you only." Sergeant Gardener's tone indicated he had not forgotten what was said about the dishes a moment ago and would inquire about it later. Taking hold of his wife's hand he dragged the curious woman to their bedroom to give the preteen and teenager privacy.

Sitting on the cushion next to Mokuba Tea gave him an expectant eyebrow raise that mirrored her father's. His eyes focused on his slipper clad feet Mokuba mumbled," I ran away to make a point to Seto."

"You mean to say the inseparable Kaiba brothers had an argument?" This information was as surprising as finding Mokuba in her living room at 10 o'clock at night.

Mokuba made a face at Tea to express his clear dislike of whatever rumour Tea had heard this from. Tea gave a small giggle to prove she'd just been teasing. Finding interest in his feet once more Mokuba clarified," Big brother has been working on something that I don't approve of at all, but he refuses to listen. This afternoon I told him that he better stop before a certain someone found out and came to knock his block off. Seto just laughed saying he could handle anything that certain person tried. I got mad and said if he didn't stop working on the project I'd run away until he promised to stop the project until he had the certain person's permission." As Mokuba had continued Tea slowly pieced together all the information, and what she got in conclusion made her blood boil.

Getting to her feet Tea stormed out of the living room, down the hall and to her parents' bedroom. Knocking harshly she yelled," Dad! Do you still have connections in high places concerning the law?"

The bedroom door flew open and two outraged parents demanded," He hasn't been abused has he?"

"No! But his older brother has abused my patience and tolerance. I need a lawyer for making a legal copy right document. Now!" At the rise of their daughter's voice Mr. and Mrs. Gardener knew this was a personal matter.

Whipping out their cell phones they got to work putting together everything Tea would need, including a phone number to get in touch with a certain CEO.

Mokuba watched all of this happen from around the corner and could only gloat in his head,' I can't wait to tell Seto I told him so.'

A Dim Present and Future


	2. Copy Righted

**J: This is in my opinion the real beginning of the story, because that prologue for the most part was a recap, and it's usually the first chapter that I get the reviewers to start coming in :P Now here's a question for you my little duckies, in this fanfiction would you like the romance to be more intimate or the same level I had it at in the prequel? Let me know before I get to the chapters where I need to put in the good stuff:P**

**THANKS TO: the first reviewer of the fanfic L'archangel! (Yay for carry over reviewers lol. And I know what you mean, only my issue is with past and present tense grammar -.-")**

**Disclaimer: ME NO OWNEE YUGIOH PEOPLES OR PLACES!**

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**Chapter One – Copy Righted**

Seto Kaiba sat in his big swivel office chair rubbing his temples, it was getting close to midnight and Mokuba still had not returned from his fake run away. Seto knew exactly where he was, though it bothered him that his brother would run there of all places. His security team had located Mokuba at the residence of the Gardener family. Last time he'd been abducted to that house by Ryou Bakura, there was really only one reason for Mokuba to go there. 'Now it's just a matter of waiting for-' 'Beep beep' "Mr. Kaiba?" The voice of is secretary Yuki buzzed through the intercom.

Pressing the little blinking red button he growled," What is it?"

Seto had hired Yuki for one purpose only, she would handle his angry mood swings and act just as level headed as ever, that reason applied to that very moment," There's a call on line 3, it's a Miss Gardener."

Seto couldn't hold back his groan of irritation," Thank you." He then switched off the intercom and picked up his phone. Hitting the button for line three he growled," What is it Gardener?"

"We're setting the issue tomorrow after school, you come to my house as soon as the bell rings or I swear on my dance fund that I will turn your brother into the girliest man on the Earth. Good night!" Seto heard the phone line go dead and hung up the phone on his end. Continuing to rub his temples he had only one thought, 'Mokuba can go without an allowance for a month, and all his bank accounts will be frozen too.'

**-The Next Day-**

'Slam!' Tea held nothing back when putting her knapsack on the desk. Yugi, Joey, and Tristan all leaned away slightly to avoid any of the heated waves of anger radiating from their female friend.

Being the braver man Yugi hesitantly asked," S-something wrong Tea?"

"Only if you consider Seto frick'n Kaiba stealing Dance Dueling from me a problem! Oh! And Mokuba is staying over at my place." The last little bit had no true anger behind it, not with how her parents treated him like their own son right off the bat. Tea had told them about everything they'd done on their play dates and her parents thought Mokuba was a good kid. Having spent just an hour with him they couldn't leave the little guy alone. They'd set him up in the spare bedroom and told him to stay a run away as long as possible. They'd drive him to school, make him lunch and all that jazz.

Thus named CEO (who still has to attend school no matter how rich and powerful he was) entered the room just then and glared directly at the also glaring Tea. Joey got to his feet ready to attack, but Tea subdued him by sitting down and breaking the eye contact. Leaning towards Tea Tristan whispered," What are you doing about it Tea? The guy would rather pay over a million dollars than stop a project."

"I've already dealt with it, and he is not going to be impressed." A confident smirk appeared on her face, giving the room a sudden air of danger. The boys didn't see a smile of that high caliber of confidence on Tea, only on the Pharaoh right before he brought down his opponent in duel monsters. Seeing it on Tea was very unnerving, and the they weren't the only ones thinking that.

Seto had kept watch of Tea from the corner of his eye, upon seeing the confident smile a bad lump formed in the pit of his stomach. Taking his seat with a book Kaiba did his best not to let this unwelcome development bother him. It was near impossible for someone of Tea Gardener's class to get a lawyer able to sue him for taking her idea. The only real thing he was worried about was the loss of his project, if she managed to get a copy right placed on the game before he did then would have to pay up big time. 'Knowing lower class people I'm sure she'd charge me for every penny I can offer. Not that I'll let that happen though.' Confident once more Seto Kaiba returned to his book with an emotionless expression.

Needless to say their first day of school was nothing but a tense disaster that even unnerved the teacher to the point where they sent Tea out in the hall for no genuine reason. This only made Kaiba happier and the room that much more tense when Tea was allowed back in.

At the end of the day the guys practically glued themselves to Tea. "Would you three g home already? You're not coming to my house, end of story! Or do I need to call my dad?" With that threat they gave her a salute and a thumbs up and departed very quickly.

Stepping into her house the first thing Tea noticed was her parents. They were home and busier than bees. Which made no sense whatsoever to Tea. 'The fact that Kaiba is coming over to get his head ripped off must have gone through one ear and out the other. It'll sink in when he shows up with his lawyers.' Rolling her eyes as she thought this Tea stepped over her father on the floor scrubbing with all his might and went into the kitchen. She danced around her frantically cooking mother to grab some cookies then left to go change out of her school uniform.

She was just slipping on her dark blue business skirt (courtesy of mother insisting that a woman always needed a set of professional clothes) when there came a knock at the door, followed by Mokuba informing her," Mr. Uzumi, your lawyer, and my big brother are here with his five lawyers. Oh! And your mom made giant chocolate chip cookies! Hurry before big bro and I eat them all!" Tea couldn't help but giggle at the thought of Seto Kaiba stuffing freshly made chocolate chip cookies in his mouth.

To add the finishing touch to her professional look Tea threw on her matching dark blue blazer. The final appearance was that of a young woman ready to take down any person in court. Upon entering the living room she wasn't the least surprised to find her mother fidgeting next to her stone faced father and Seto Kaiba sitting across from them looking cockier than ever. To make her presence known she started with an apology," I apologize for the wait, I felt this situation needed a proper appearance." All eyes were on her as she took the spot her parents made for her right between them.

On the outside Kaiba appeared to be totally unfazed by Tea's change of outfit, on the inside he felt something stir. An emotion he'd felt only in Yugi's presence while in the midst of a duel. It was the emotion of uncertainty. For just a fleeting millisecond Seto Kaiba felt uncertain about winning this new challenge. Shifting to become more comfortable he played it cool by responding," No need for the apology, I was just enjoying your parents' hospitality. Getting to business we both know what this is about."

'Well, here's something I didn't expect. Seto Kaiba acting like a good guest. Must be a hitch to being a powerful CEO, he can't reveal how much of a jerk he really is in front of strangers.' Tea met his gaze coolly when speaking," Yes, MY invented game, Dance Dueling. No one knew about it except Yugi, my parents, and myself. You didn't begin working on your project to mass produce it until…certain events, occurred during weeks past. That being the case I have taken legal action and put into effect copy rights upon the game. If you want to make this game national then you have to pay up for using it, as well as following the original rules I've created for it. And half of the earnings go to me and my parents. If you agree to these terms your project may continue." As Tea listed all this she took the stack of papers her lawyer handed her and pushed it towards the now clearly irked Kaiba.

'There's no way Mr. Ego-for-Brains will agree and there is nothing he can do to change my idea on this.' Tea's smirk conveyed this thought loud and clear for Kaiba and all five of his lawyers to receive.

Kaiba could feel all five of his lawyers stiffen behind him, they knew things were getting bad and could only escalate to worse legal actions. He had to think but couldn't in these conditions. He needed time," Would it be possible to think about these terms over a time span of ten days?"

"Of course, but you must already know that until a decision has been made all productions of this 'Dance Duel' must come to a halt. You may have longer than ten days if you wish." Mr. Uzumi, the official lawyer for the military regime her father worked for carried his voice the same way a general would indiscreetly tell his men they have the right to get away with something. The lawyers that represented Mr. Kaiba were well paid, well educated, but still witless weasels that had never had to defend a man from execution just because he almost killed his wife from post traumatic stress.

Kaiba inwardly sighed at all these inconveniences, no doubt his schedule would have to be drastically altered to work some thinking time in. To Tea and her lawyer he accepted," Thank you, if I'm in need of an extension I will inform you. Mokuba let's go."

"Okay. Um, Auntie? Can I bring some cookies home with me?" Tea never thought a child's eyes could get as big as Mokuba made his at that moment.

Mrs. Gardener giggled and reached down between her feet to pull up a brown paper bag filled with cookies. Handing it over she whispered," You're more than welcome here any time you like sweetie. You can even bring your brother if possible…As long as he doesn't fire me. Now run along before your brother blows a gasket." Mokuba laughed and ran off to make sure his brother didn't leave without him just because he actually had his ass handed to him by a girl with one lawyer at that.

Tea thanked her lawyer, promised a nice addition to his pay, then saw him out the door. Grinning ear to ear she announced," Dinner on me tomorrow mom and dad!"

"Uh, Tea? We won't be home tomorrow and the next three nights." Tea's mother fidgeted slightly as she cleaned up the coffee table of the tea cups and cookies.

Her dad met Tea's disbelieving gaze head on to explain more thoroughly," Your mother is needed for a presentation in the next town over and I'm required for a weapons demonstration in Singapore. Your mother will be home before I am, but for four days you will have to fend yourself. Unless you'd rather spend that time at a friend's. If my trained memory is sufficient you had some rather trying experiences in our lack of presence not too long ago."

Tea bit the inside of her lip to keep from yelling so she could calmly reassure her parents," That won't happen again. I won't let anyone, not even Mokuba inside the house this time. You can go off to work for a month and I'd be perfectly fine…As long as you sent money to get food that is. So there's no need to worry about me." To emphasize her toughness Tea hit herself on the chest.

Mr. and Mrs. Gardener exchanged a worried glance, they were going to need to think about this.

Suddenly feeling uncomfortable Tea pulled off her blazer and went to her room, she felt a good phone conversation was in order.


	3. Challenged in More Than One Way

**J: Ah, the beautiful number three! As in, I got three reviews this time and they've made me ever so happy! I'm glad interest is slightly picking up, and I understand why the delay. I also wish to let you guys know, if you didn't already figure it out, that this fanfiction will be updated slower due to it being written and typed rather simultaneously.**

**THANKS TO: L'archangel(you shall be twisted in more ways than you'd ever imagine! Mwahahaha!) Digibear(I'm happy to hear so seeing as I've read a little of yours and thought likewise :3) and last but not least the-writing-vampire(I understand, I've kicked myself over the odd loss of reviewing awesomeness myself. And I'm happy to arouse your curiosity once more :3)**

**Disclaimer: ME NO OWNEE!  
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Chapter Two – Challenged In More Than One Way**

"Whatever you do, don't let that conceited jerk get his way!"

"Yea, but don't forget to do that in a way that shows you're still a polite girl."

Mai Valentine and Serenity Wheeler were the last people she heard before going to bed at 2 in the morning. Mai with her assertive attitude and Serenity with her calm demeanor were both her voices of reason in situations where she needed a pep talk. Such as the situation where she needed reassurance that she was going to win against Kaiba and she wasn't going to go missing over the next few days. **(Mai had full out laughed at that suggestion.) **"I'm not going to be kidnapped, killed, or tortured. That's Pegasus and The Big Five. Okay, I'm going to be fine, I'll be just fine on my own for the next few days if mom and dad decide to leave me alone." Having chanted that over five times Tea felt relaxed enough to go to bed.

** -At the Kaiba Mansion-**

Seto Kaiba stood wide awake and alert in front of his large office window that looked out upon the city of Domino. It wasn't possible for him to sleep when an issue such as this wouldn't leave his overwhelmed mind alone. He just couldn't see a way to win, not without losing what he could only assume would be a large amount of profits. 'Her parents must have good connections if they managed to get it copy righted so quickly. I bet they had a judge on standby for her as well. Damn this sucks. When was the last time I had a problem like this?...Right, Pegasus kidnapped Mokuba to get a hold of my company. We only managed to get out of that problem by Yugi beating Pegasus at…That's it! You're going to regret crossing me Tea Gardener.' More than eagerly Seto Kaiba left his office and got ready for bed, the moment he woke up he would be busy making preparation for the next few days.

**-The Next Day-**

'Dear Tea, we talked it over last night and came to the conclusion that you are more than capable of handling any situation that may occur over the next few days. However we will still give you a call to make sure everything is alright. And don't forget about the panic button, your father always has good men on standby for emergencies. Take care of yourself and the house. Love, mom.'

The kitchen was empty of all living presence, the only indication that people had come into the kitchen was Tea's packed bento, the note, and a half full pot of coffee. Smiling to herself Tea announced to the empty house," Guess it's just me running the place a while. Which mean I can have some fun!" Running about getting ready for school Tea could only think of one thing. 'Sleep over Party! Sleep Over Party!'

Bag and lunch in hand she flew out the door and off to school, her attention totally focused on what she needed for the next night rather than pay attention to the men that lurked behind her.

One of the men in a black suit and sunglasses dialed a number and quietly inquired," Target in sight, how shall we proceed?"

"Check out the house, if either of her parents is home give my name and a full explanation. If not then grab her things and report back to base until I instruct otherwise." The voice finished and the other line cut off, Both suits shrugged and returned to their earlier train of thought, 'If he wanted to go out with her couldn't he just ask her out on a date?' They would never out right question orders, but when they met up with their fellow suits this would no doubt be the topic of discussion.

Tea arrived at school ten minutes earlier than she usually did, and that meant she wouldn't see the guys for at least 20 minutes. 'Excellent, I can actually get some personal reading done.' Practically skipping to her classroom Tea felt happier than she had in years. Upon entering the classroom her high of good energy diminished. What she hadn't counted on was Seto Kaiba being an early student as well. What bothered her even more was that he was reading the exact same book she'd planned on reading.

Tea knew that Kaiba knew she was there, how could he not know when the classroom door made enough noise that Joey and Tristen were always caught entering the class late. If she left she would look like a scared and intimidated opponent. She refused to be seen as that person when trapped in the Oblivion Zone by her soul sister Anzu. Holding her head up just as had the previous night Tea marched over to her desk and sat down to pull out her book and begin reading like the CEO didn't even exist.

Seto Kaiba had indeed been aware of Tea's presence the second she opened the door, he had expected her to either comment or to leave. By coming in the room and not saying anything he felt the absolute compulsion to say something. Glancing from the corner of his eye he found the perfect opening to be victorious that morning," Chapter ten her best friend dies."

"I think I just heard a donkey bray. If the jack ass opens it's mouth again I think I might giving his younger brother mani and pedicures." Tea's come back caused Seto's eye to twitch. He'd started with a book, and she'd killed it with his brother. 'Damn girl needs to leave my brother out of things.'

"Thought you should know that my brother's prohibited from your property for the next two months, maybe longer. Depends on how well this arrangement goes over." Seto was satisfied to hear a loud 'clop' from Tea snapping her book shut, followed by the grating of her chair against the floor. Seto kept his attention on the words in front of him even when Tea stomped over to him and sat down backwards in the chair in front of him.

Tea knew what game he was playing, and she could play it too," If your brother hadn't told me now, instead of when you actually tried to launch MY idea nation wide, we wouldn't have an arrangement at all! I would just have sued your ass for all right to profits and shut down the production all together. So be grateful to your brother you stuck up twit."

"If I recall correctly, the last person that used twit as an insult was your deranged twin, and what else happened that night? Oh, that's right you-" Before Seto could finish Tea actually had enough guts to flick him on the ear, thus effectively cutting him off as well as putting him on his feet with the expression of a killer.

Tea stood unfazed by his aura and expression and faced him with her own. The stare down was twice as intense as the one from the other day, it was so intense that the teacher felt like he was walking into a wall when opening the door and entering the classroom. It was the sound of the opening door that made the two tyrants break eye contact. Going back to her seat Tea grumbled," I should have gotten the Blue Eyes to bite your head off." Seto rolled his eyes at the childish quip but went back to his book. From the corner of his eye he saw the teacher give them a suspicious look that spoke clearly of his thoughts.

Tea didn't miss the teacher's look either, to seem absolutely innocent she said sweetly," Thanks for the practice Kaiba-kun, my dad didn't think I was assertive enough to be his daughter." The teacher, having gotten an earful from General Gardener not too long ago, seemed to accept this on the spot story. Seto cast her a look that told her he wasn't going to play along if the teacher addressed him.

**-At lunch period-**

"So tell your sister she can come over tonight if possible, kay Joey?" Tea could barely contain the enthusiasm leaking from her voice. It had been forever since she'd had a girls night. The last few sleepovers had been with guys most of the time. A fart free, cozy, pillow fight filled night was just what she needed after being around the guys for so long.

Joey acknowledged this request with a nod since his mouth was jammed with food. Tristen's face was flushed from ear to ear from the thoughts of a girls night, Yugi's gaze was in a total different direction and his eyes were glazed over in thought. Tea snapped her fingers in front of Yugi's face to bring him back to earth," You okay? You've been drifting in and out of reality since school started."

"Oh, I'm fine. I've just been thinking about Ryou." The name of their number one on the danger list drew all their attention to Yugi.

"What about Ryou Yug?"

"I was just wondering when he's going to show up. I managed to get a look at the attendance and his name is still registered, so he's still going to be coming to school. It's just a matter of when." Joey, Tristen and Tea had listened intently and they nodded in agreement to this observation. If Ryou is still registered for class then he was bound to show up sooner or later, and when he did they would be ready for him. **(Meaning they were planning to do a full body search for the millennium ring before Bakura switched.)**

"Do you guys think it's safe at my house to have a sleepover? I mean, what if Bakura shows up and goes ballistic on Mai and Serenity just because they're there." Tea was staring down at her rice ball with deep concern, she had totally forgotten about Bakura and how much of a threat he was.

She was momentarily confused when Joey broke out into laughter, wiping away tears he explained," When I told Serenity and Mai what had happened with you and him in the summer they both swore to castrate the guy if he ever tried to even talk to ya again. The guy would be nuts to go into your house with two tough chicks like them." This brought a smile to Tea's face, she couldn't argue with that. She'd taught Serenity self defense not too long ago, and Mai had taught her the proper method to verbally kill a male's ego. Feeling better she pulled a Joey and shoved her onigiri into her mouth.

**-After School-**

"What is she doing now?" The suit and sunglasses man with long blonde dreads had the cell phone and got to listen to Mr. Kaiba ask the same thing every 10 minutes.

Putting the binoculars to his eyes the blonde suit replied," She's still cleaning sir, but now she's cleaning the pool…Want me to take pictures sir?"

"…You're fired. Give your phone to the other man and get out of the car." Utterly speechless the blonde gave the cell to the confused black and red streaked hair ex-yakuza member. The blonde waved and got out of the car, only to run right into Tea who looked anything but intimidated by his full height of six feet and five inches.

Clearing his throat the blonde asked," C-can I help you miss?"

"Yea, you can tell your partner to tell your boss he better not send men digging again or else I'll file a law suit. Get it? Got it? Good. Now leave before I call the authorities!" Tea wasn't stupid when it came to opponents that had an ego. She'd learned how to spot a surveillance operative two years ago thanks to the Death Dancers and their issue with the word 'no.' Plus the knowledge of Seto's personality allowed her to make the correct assumption about the bastard.

Caught between a pissed chick and a guy that could take away his entire future the suit with blonde dreads opened the car door and made the appropriate hand signals to say they were compromised. His now ex-partner hadn't hung up the phone yet so was able to tell his boss," Sir, I'm afraid we've been compromised, and it seems the subject in question wishes to speak to you…immediately."

"Damn. Fine, give her the phone, and you're fired as well. I hired you to be stealthy, not big obvious idiots." The dyed black and red suit didn't hesitate in handing his companion the cell, and he felt no compulsion to wait in handing the phone to Tea.

Tea had a whole list of things to bitch at Kaiba for, but she was intercepted by him rather snarkily saying," I had my reasons oh fierce and mighty cheerleader, tamer of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. See you later." 'Click.'

Mouth a gap in quiet fury Tea immediately threw the cell phone to the ground and crushed it into pieces with the heel of her shoe. To the now quite meek suits she hissed," Leave this property or die." Not waiting another minute blonde dreads jumped back into the car to speed off back to headquarters where he would gladly hand over his suit and sunglasses.

"Tea dear, is something the matter?" An elderly woman with horrible arthritis and poor eye sight stepped out of the house that Tea cleaned for a school approved part time job.

Composing herself Tea turned to the elderly woman to reply in her once more calm demeanor," Nothing's wrong Mrs. Mazaki, I was simply stretching out my muscles to reach better. I'll have your pool cleaned in no time!"

"Oh don't worry about the pool, you should head home and do your homework. I know how much you want to graduate with good grades for Julliard." Mrs. Mazaki, though poor in sight and physical health was a perfect embodiment for the saying that elephants never forget. You could tell her five events in your life without mentioning the date and she'd still figure out the order the events proceeded in.

Tea loved Mrs. Mazaki; when she'd been younger she would stay with her when her parents would leave for work. Mrs. Mazaki would spoil tea with cookies and stories from when her parents first moved into the neighborhood with their one year old daughter, and neither of them wanted to leave their beautiful baby girl alone. When Tea got old enough to stay home alone she would still spend most days with Mrs. Mazaki and tell her stories about her and Anzu, what her dreams were about and who her latest crush was. Mrs. Mazaki even knew Yugi, Joey, and Tristen since she would spend almost all summer there keeping the yard clean and trimmed, the guys helped out with fixing the roof and other such things. In return they were allowed to use Mrs. Mazaki's pool whenever they needed it.

Smiling full heartedly at the woman she considered to be her grandmother Tea lightly giggled," I'm glad you're concerned, but that pool has a week of built up scum that needs to be cleaned out. As soon as I'm done I promise to go home and study to the best of my abilities, okay?"

Mrs. Mazaki laughed in return and turned to go back in the house, half way through the door she called over her shoulder," Do as much as you can sweetie, don't tire yourself out. Oh! And tell your white haired friend that he is welcome to come inside and wait until you are done. It would be awful if his white skin got burnt." At the same time Mrs. Mazaki closed the door Tea's heart stopped mid beat and the hair on the back of her neck stood as straight as sewing needles.

"What a very considerate woman she is. Maybe I'll take her up on her offer and join her inside, though I can't promise she would be there once you're done cleaning." She didn't need to turn around, she didn't need to physically see him. She knew he was there. She knew who he was. What she didn't know was what he wanted.


	4. Sleepless Sleepover

**J: Ah...ha,ha...PLEASE FORGIVE ME I AM SO SORRY! You have to understand that I go from anime to anime in a heartbeat depending on what I find on here. Over the past few weeks I was hypnotized by the awesome SesshXKag fanfics that I never thought even possible! But I was given an update for a fanfiction which was SetoXTea and tadah! I'm back in this buissness...for now ahha. And to make up for my lack of updating I shall be posting TWO chapters tonight! And what a lovely night it is to :3**

**THANKS TO: nma5(curiosity killed the cat, but hopefully your satisfaction will bring it back :3), the-writing-vampire(thank you for not quitting on me! I'm just not feeling it as much with this one cause I'm just writing the first thing I think, the other one was filled with advanced thinking) and chuckyjet(firstly, I love your name, never seen it and had to do a double take when I got the review lol. Secondly, who doesn't love a lot of fluffness and such? I will try and put in some more fluffies, jaw droppers, heart stoppers, etc,etc xD)**

**Disclaimer: Still own nothing despite loving this anime/manga since day one up until craptastic 5D's :P  
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Chapter Three – Sleepless Sleepover**

"Tea? Earth to Tea! Hey! The cookies are burning!" The last statement made Tea come out of Lala land and run to the smoking oven where her batch of chocolate chip cookies were turning into ashes.

Pulling them out she sighed in relief, she'd just barely made it in time to save them. The blatant stares of Mai Valentine and Serenity Wheeler spoke more volumes of their concern then their words ever could. Laughing awkwardly Tea squeaked," Um…Cookies are done, wanna go put on a movie now?"

"Nuh uh, we're not doing anything else until you tell us what's going on in that pretty little head of yours Tea. You've been spacing out ever since we got here. And frankly hun, it's starting to scare me. For as long as I've known you, you'd never let a batch of cookies over bake." Mai forced Tea to take a seat in a kitchen chair and Serenity pulled up two more for themselves.

Sighing in defeat Tea mumbled," I'll tell you if you don't go super crazy on me, but I know you will anyways."

"Just tell us already Tea! I promise we won't destroy the house, whatever it is that you think will make us mad shouldn't make us THAT mad." Serenity reached behind their shoulders to pull out two mugs of lemonade, one went to Mai the other she started to drink herself.

'Well, I'm sure she's right, they won't break anything.' "It's Kaiba and Bakura." Kaiba, they had expected, Bakura was not. Tea figured this much when they mugs they were drinking from cracked from their strengthened hold at the use of Bakura's name. Sweat dropping Tea could only think of how her mother would react upon seeing even more ruined dishes.

Leaning forward Tea cautiously removed the mugs from her friends before they shattered them completely. Tea felt it was best to continue what she was saying so as not to earn a strangle hold for not telling more," When I got home from work today I wanted to change into my jean skirt and blue tube top, but when I opened my dresser drawers and closet there was nothing. All my jeans, skirts, shirts and pajamas were gone. They didn't touch my bras and panties though, and I found a note from Mr. Stick-In-The-Ass." Confusion overruled their previous anger so the two accepted the note from Tea she'd just mentioned. On the note it read,

_'Dear Gardener,_

_I felt I should give you a minor explanation as to why your entire wardrobe has been removed from your house. If you wish to retrieve your pathetic collection of clothing then you must come to my estates to get them, come alone or else I will burn every last bit of fabric. I highly recommend that you show up tomorrow seeing as your little get together with the mutt's sister and Ms. Valentine is tonight. You may arrive anytime after you have finished your job at Mrs. Mazaki's. Good day to you and your geek squad._

_S. Kaiba._'

Serenity and Mai reread the whole letter five times before finally making a comment in unison," It sounds like a ransom note." Tea nodded, she'd thought the exact same thing when she'd found it. She'd also thought that Kaiba was holding back with how polite it sounded.

Serenity handed the note back to Tea and further commented," I think Kaiba is trying to use your clothes as leverage to make your deal sweeter."

"Yea, I thought about that possibility as well, but my lawyer won't agree to any changes and Kaiba knows that. So it must be for some other ridiculous reason that I can't even think about." Tea picked out a cookie from the baking sheet and quickly blew on it so as not to burn her tongue.

Mai leaned back in the chair and mumbled something incoherent about Kaiba being too arrogant to know when to cut his loses. Facing Tea with a more sour expression Mai asked with much restraint," So that covers the issue with Money Bags, but what about Bakura? I'm going to take a jab and say that your day dreaming is really because of him. So spill!"

"Um, well…It wasn't a nice reunion, that's for sure." Tea was almost ready to bite her nails at remembering the encounter.

**-Flashback-**

"What a very considerate woman she is, maybe I'll take her up on her offer and join her inside. Though I can't promise she would be there when you've done cleaning." Bakura's voice was unmistakable, and the light hearted tone he used only made Tea feel less secure. A happy Bakura meant he'd killed someone recently, or he was about to kill someone.

Tea slowly turned around to face the man that had almost used her to kill her best friend and at the same time he'd almost become the man she'd always been looking for. In the end all of it was just part of his sick demented plot that led to nothing but trouble and pure rage. That rage returned upon seeing his smug face casually leaning against a cherry tree. Stepping back into her defensive stance Tea growled," You lay one finger on that woman and I will kill you Bakura!"

"That's not a very nice way to greet your boyfriend Tea." Bakura opened his eyes to find an enraged Tea, which was just what he was aiming for.

"Since when have you ever been my boyfriend? If anything you're just a pain in the butt that needs another good punch to the jaw like last time!" Tea relaxed from her stance to cross her arms, the way things were playing out only seemed to be a verbal battle in the making. Although her mind wasn't helping her by automatically noticing that Bakura was wearing a very tight sexy black t-shirt. 'Why can I not stop being a hormonal teenage girl even at the worst of times?'

Bakura's smile changed from smug to sensual far too fast for Tea to catch the shift. He moved off the tree and stepped a little closer towards her, thus putting her back into a defensive position. She was scared of him and he knew it no matter how tough she tried to appear. His voice as smooth as silk he practically purred," Don't try to feign ignorance, my last few weeks of research have taught me three things. The first thing I learned is that a female won't allow you to kiss her unless is interested in being your mate, or girlfriend as your generation words it."

'I am in so much trouble is his research managed to teach him that much common sense about females. Hopefully the other two things won't be to kidnap then forcefully marry the girl in question, though he's already accomplished that last one. Lucky for me I divorced him before it was too late.' This went on through Tea's mind when at the same time she asked," What kind of source did you get that kind of information?" If she could convince him that his information was wrong then he might leave her alone for another three to four weeks.

"The same source that taught me this second bit of information: There is always one or more rivals to watch for that would attempt to take away your girlfriend." Bakura had taken another few steps forward in a very confident stride. Tea then remembered that the only thing behind her was the pool, and she only wore a bikini top and cut off jean shorts. 'So its either physical contact or take a swim in freezing cold water. Bastard.'

"Again. I. AM. NOT. YOUR. GIRLFRIEND! And second, you seem to forget what happens to guys that show interest me. Those damned Death Dancers scare them away. It's too bad that can't scare you away, if they could I'd join them in a heart beat." Tea made sure to sound overly disappointed that Bakura couldn't be chased away.

The sensual smile vanished to be replaced by the one only shown during his duels with Yugi; evil and sadistic pleasure. Bakura reached into his back pocket to pull out a handful of multi coloured bandanas that sported studs that made two capital D's. Meeting Tea's enlarged eyes he chuckled," Unless the two that got away are insane I don't think they will be bothering you anymore." Opening his hand the bandanas drifted to the ground to land quietly in a silent message of doom.

"There were over thirty people in that group, and you?" Tea was in such a state of shock she couldn't finish her sentence.

Bakura's smile didn't budge an inch, in fact the massive creep licked his lips as if to savor the taste he'd just enjoyed," All twenty eight of them couldn't keep their eyes off me, not even when I engulfed their bodies by shadows. Their screams for mercy were quite beautiful as well. But I must say, I'm getting much more satisfaction watching you squirm right now Tea. But that is not why I'm talking to you." Bakura's abrupt change from his horror story wasn't enough to draw Tea's gaze away from the bandanas or away from the images of Trinity, the leader of the Death Dancers, screaming in agony as her and all the other younger girls were eaten by the shadows.

Since her concentration wasn't on him Bakura took the advantage to close the gap between them and put his hand underneath her chin, tilting her head and gaze up to his face he continued," I'm talking to you now because you seem to be getting quite cozy with Seto Kaiba."

That snapped her out of her nightmarish thoughts. Jerking her head out of his grasp she took the last step she could backwards towards the pool without falling in. Her eyes strong and focused she flared to accompany her growl," Your eyes must be as bad as your source of information. At the moment Kaiba is driving me up the wall with his attempts to try and sell my game. Whatever you've been seeing came from your own imagination."

"I'm so glad to hear that, but non the less you belong to me and me alone. Anyone that tries to claim you otherwise shall be destroyed." That's when he made his move, with lightning speed Bakura swung his foot in a round house under sweep and knocked Tea's legs out from under her. Losing her balance she fell back into the freezing cold water, just as she resurfaced she heard Bakura's dark laughter and a faint whisper," I'll see you again soon Tea."

**-End Flashback-**

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you saying that Bakura, current bad boy with a split British personality, thinks he's your boyfriend? Where did he get an idea like that?" Mai like Serenity was far more confused than angry after hearing a story like that. The idea of a sexy bad boy (both girls could not deny his appeal) like Bakura thinking he was Tea's boyfriend was just very hard to comprehend. It wasn't that Tea wasn't attractive, it was more the thought of Bakura actually having feelings. But they were leaning more towards the thought that Bakura was continuing to play with her emotions out of boredom or another plot.

Tea shrugged and put the remaining handful of cookies in a cookie jar. Putting her hair up she mumbled," Heck if I know and it's not what's concerning me the most. It's his indication towards Kaiba, if I didn't know any better I swear Bakura was jealous."

Mai and Serenity exchanged a glance that told Tea that they hadn't even thought of that possibility. Serenity stood up from her seat to stretch, going to the fridge she retrieved a bottle of water while thinking out loud," Well it would make sense if you think about it. Bakura is under the impression that you're his girlfriend, and like any other guy he only wants to keep you to himself. And it seems he's been spying on you, which allowed him to see your interaction with Kaiba. He must have seen these interactions as flirting and now believes Kaiba to be his rival." The more Serenity talked the more she confirmed the unspoken theory that Serenity inherited all the useful; intelligence and Joey inherited as much as he needed to survive in the world.

Mai got to her feet with a smile and swung an arm around each girl's shoulders. Giving them both a good squeeze she cheered," I think we've talked enough about those two nuisances. I say we get to the fun stuff. You said your parents let you fix up that creepy dungeon room since your soul sister was banished right? I wanna see this new and improved room." Tea and Serenity relaxed with a smile. If there was anyone that could change a mood from bad to fun it was Mai Valentine.

Quite confident that her friends would like the decorating job Tea proudly led them to the room that once held Anzu's spirit card. After the Anzu-Bakura incident her parents were more than happy to let Tea make it over. The end result was a dance-game room. On one side of the room there were two large mirrors and a balance bar. On the other side a large screen TV and all her game stations were neatly set and connected for usage at any moment. The walls were painted sky blue with clouds in the shapes of hearts, stars and heart eyed skulls. On the ceiling Tea had shamelessly gotten a friend to paint a beautiful Blue Eyes White Dragon being ridden by Thunder Nyah Nyah.

Mai and Serenity took the whole room in with wide eyes and smiles. Spinning in a full circle Serenity cooed," It's amazing Tea, I'm so jealous!"

"No kidding, hun. You can dance until you can't dance no more than plop down in front of the TV with a good RPG to relax…Any chance you'd give a copy of your house key to me so I can come in here from time to time. If you set up a good sized table you could put a duel monster game in here once in a while, and I'm sure little Yugi and Joey would love that." Mai had her hands together in a shape of a square to look through it as if imagining Yugi and Joey playing duel monsters at a table.

Tea rolled her eyes and sighed," As nice as the idea is I already have enough duel monster action in my life. I like to think my house is the only duel monster free zone in the whole city. Now I think it's about time I break this room in with a DDR dance off. What do you guys think?" Tea wasn't disappointed when both girls nodded with competitive fire in their eyes.

"But first, let's put on our pajamas, they'll be more comfortable to dance in, right?" Serenity's suggestion was met with giggles and light teasing about Serenity wanting to show off her new sexy two piece that she'd gotten from Mai at her last birthday party. Joey still didn't know what she'd gotten in the purple box and he never would.

Needless to say the slumber party was more partying than sleeping, in fact the girls didn't crash until 4 in the morning, but all three fell asleep next to each other with smiles.


	5. The Real Reason

**J: Ahha, whoever said you can't have a filler for a fanfiction never met me! ..This is going no where. But I do have some information! The next chapter after this might take a lil bit before being posted due to my lack of interest over the past few weeks (coughmonthcough) so do not be alarmed at lack of updatingness...ENJOY THIS SHORT ONE!**

**Disclaimer: Me no ownee characters that I would molest/fondle if they were real.  
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Chapter Four- The Real Reason**

"Bye guys! Thanks for the fun last night!" Tea called this out to Serenity and Mai who drove off to Joey's. (Tea later learned they'd walked in on Joey sleeping in nothing but his boxers.) Going back inside Tea went into the living room to evaluate the mess damage. On a scale from one to ten she was pleased that the three of them only reached level six in comparison to all the mess that accumulated in the room shared between her, Joey, Tristan, Serenity, and Duke on Kaiba's airship. She'd felt bad for the cleaning crew when they found the mess they had to clean. As she began to clean her mind wandered back to the two males that insisted on making her life more complicated than it should be. First there was Seto Kaiba who was battling her for idea custody and currently holding her wardrobe hostage. He was handsome , in fact he was on the top of her list on the in between Good and Bad guys, the only reason she currently wanted to shave his pretty little head so the sun could reflect off his scalp was because his ego couldn't be any bigger. If he was even a little less egotistical she would try minor flirtations to see if he responded.

Then there was Mr. I'm-An-Evil-Egyptian-Spirit Bakura. Again another hottie that was currently number one on the Bad Boy list due to Marik being in the Shadow Realm for all of eternity. In the course of two days the guy had flashed his sexy chest and acted super polite and charming. He wooed her to the point where she didn't question anything he did or said, including kissing her. Then things went to hell, and now he was back to put her back into hell. "Not this time Bakura! I'm not going to fall for any of your bullshit!" Pumped up with enraged energy Tea began cleaning like a mad woman.

She'd started at ten and ended at eleven, anyone else would be very proud of themselves, Tea only sighed," Damn, I was aiming for half an hour. Alright, so I have…two hours left before heading over to Mrs. Mizaki's, plenty of time to go through that new dance routine." Her frustrated energy expelled and replaced with excessive energy that could be used for anything Tea happily skipped off to her room to change into workout clothes.

The moment the door closed behind her a form dashed past to the room that Tea planned to use. In the dance-game room the unidentifiable person went to each corner of the room and placed his hand on each wall creating the corner. Nothing appeared and nothing altered on the wall but the figure touched the walls of each corner. When they finished a crooked smile spread across their face. The figure left the room as quickly as they'd entered, and the only way anyone could know he'd been there was the quiet echoing of ominous laughter.

Tea noticed nothing out of place when she came out of her bedroom in a light blue tank top and white capris that use to be sweat pants. Hair pulled up in her small pony tail Tea spun and skipped to her dance room with a new mixed CD in hand. She'd paid Joey 15 bucks to make the CD exactly two hours long and it started out with good warm up songs and ended with something you could dance almost anything to.

In the dance room Tea threw the CD into her playstation, (what better stereo system could you have than a wide screen surround sound player?) she was pleased with Joey's taste when a wordless techno version of 'Carry On My Wayward Son' by Kansas came on. That song started one of her best exercise/practice sessions she'd had since, 'Since the time I danced with Ryou during dance class…' Tea quickly shook her head of the intimate memory, thinking about those times would only lead her back into his control.

Turning off the dwindling instruments from Arashi's 'Love So Sweet' Tea grabbed a towel and dried off the sweat that hadn't dripped off her body. Sucking back most of her water bottle she glanced at the clock to check the remaining time she had, only to see five minutes left before she had to make a mad dash for Mrs. Mizaki's. "Dammit Joey! I said two hours, not two and a half!"

In the next two minutes that passed Tea stubbed her toes four times, fell face first on the floor twice and door knobbed herself once. As she flew out the door she remained oblivious to the dark figure that slipped in right before the door closed.

**-Two Hours Later-**

"Mrs. Mizaki you overpaid me again! I told you I only charge five an hour, and you paid me ten an hour! I can't accept the extra ten." Tea held her hands forward with the extra ten dollars that her surrogate grandmother was trying to give her.

Mrs. Mizaki smiled kindly and closed Tea's hands around the money," Keep the money in case of emergencies sweetie. I somehow doubt your friend will be giving you a ride home in that fancy car of his. Have a nice day, and be a good girl." Being the sneaky and quick little lady she was Mrs. Mizaki scuttled back into her house laughing quietly to herself the whole way.

Tea shrugged, there was no way of convincing Mrs. Mizaki to change her mind about anything. Turning around she saw what Mrs. Mizaki had been talking about with the fancy car. Seto Kaiba, being just as sneaky as Mrs. Mizaki had once again sent his cronies to spy on her. Only this time they were also instructed to escort her back to the Kaiba estate. Walking up to the unfazed man with short black hair and closed eyes she asked," Does he really have so much spare time that he couldn't let me go to his house by myself?"

"Ms. Gardener, I don't mean to sound rude, but do you even know where Mr. Kaiba lives?" The escort couldn't help but smile when Tea blushed and mumbled back something about his suit being too plain a uniform. Daisuke shut the door on the pouting young woman and could only wish the best for what was about to happen.

During the quiet drive to Kaiba's mansion Tea thought back to the man that had smiled as he closed the door. 'Truth be told that suit put a bit of emphasis on his figure. Maybe I can get a name and number with Sassy Seto firing him for fraternizing with the enemy. Bet it would knock his ego down a couple of notches if I went for one of his staff instead of fawning over him.' A mental image of Seto Kaiba dramatically yelling and throwing a tantrum made Tea burst into a fit of laughter.

She was just recovering when the car stopped and her escort opened the door to reveal exactly what she had expected, a two story posh mansion complete with a full circle gravel drive in with a Blue Eyes White Dragon spewing pristine water in the center of the drive way.

Tea knocked politely and waited for the door to be answered by a butler or maid. Instead she was greeted by a grinning Mokuba," It's about time you got here Tea! I've been waiting for the past hour for you." Tea couldn't even get into the house before Mokuba grabbed her in a fierce hug.

Hugging him back she laughed," So sorry for keeping you waiting, I was just making fun of your brother before I have to play the polite guest in order to get my clothes back. Do you know why he took them Mokuba?"

"Actually big brother wouldn't tell me anything. Only that you would be showing up today to make arrangements for something. At first I thought it was about Dance Duelling but he hasn't mentioned your contract since he came home from that meeting." Mokuba talked and pulled Tea towards Seto's office at the same time, which Tea thought was quite impressive considering that the kid was walking backwards.

Stopping in front of two large doors Mokuba gave a solute for good luck and ran off around the corner. Tea set her expression to unhindered and knocked on the door. There came an immediate, if not grumpy response from the other side telling her to enter. Opening the doors Tea felt like she'd walked into a meeting room instead of an office. The room was three if not four times bigger than a standard office room and occupying the majority was a long table fitted with multiple seats.

Looking out his floor to ceiling window Seto Kaiba stood with a cell phone glued to his ear. Without even looking at her Seto pointed to one of the plush seats in front of his large mahogany desk. Rolling her eyes Tea complied and sat down, if the guy wasn't on the phone she would have told him to explain everything while she was still standing.

Kaiba finished his phone conversation with a promise to look over the contract before making the final call. Turning to his current guest Seto smiled, (giving Tea an unnecessary heart attack) and walked over to his own seat behind the desk," Ms. Gardener, it's good to see you got my invitation."

"If you're worried about me altering the contract because of your normal egotistical attitude you shouldn't, it's too much work to change anything on it now. So please, act like the jerk we all know and love." Tea's tone wasn't as snarky as she would have liked to use, but it wasn't very kind either.

Kaiba's smile vanished and he seemed to completely relax in his large office chair. Meeting Tea's blue gaze head on he continued on the way he normally spoke," Glad to see you're taking things seriously. I wasn't being nice because of the contract. It takes me a moment to get out of my formal state of mind used only for important people."

Tea responded with a tiny snide smirk that lasted two seconds," So tell me what's so important that you need to hold my wardrobe hostage and send your goonies to spy on me all day? It better be a good explanation or I'm putting a restraining order on my next to do list."

"Fine, getting right to the point, starting today you are going to be my dance instructor. Until I am completely satisfied with my skills you will continue to be my instructor, and if he so wishes you will also be teaching Mokuba to dance. Questions?" Kaiba could tell from the very beginning of his sentence that Tea Gardener was going to be doing more than just asking questions and immediately braced his ear drums.

"Here's a question: WHAT IN YOUR BLOODY NON EXISTANT BRAIN THINKS I WOULD AGREE TO BEING YOUR DAMNED DANCE TEACHER?" Tea was up out of her seat and almost mad enough to start foaming at the mouth.

Seto sighed and rubbed his temples, this was why he'd taken the precaution to kidnap her clothes and another arrangement. Going into his desk he pulled out an envelope and placed it in Tea's vision range. Remaining calm he answered," If you agree to be our dance instructor than I pay you twice as much as any regular dance instructor, as well I will give you this letter of recommendation for the dean of Julliard. I've been to multiple performances and have come to be on very good terms with him. Are you going to tell at me now?" The offer sweetened to tooth aching levels Tea could not yell.

She slowly sat down in her seat and glanced down at the letter, sighing with crossed arms she calmly inquired," How do you expect me to teach you when I have three part time jobs as well as my own dance lessons Monday, Wednesday, and Friday?"

"After you're finished teaching us the amount you will have accumulated will far surpass what you would make from your part time jobs after a year." She was caving, he could see the victory right there, just another shove and she would surrender.

Tea caught the tiniest flashes of smug success in Kaiba's eyes,' Oh no he doesn't. Tempted or not I cannot feed his ego.' Her mind set Tea rose from her seat and coldly told him," I will think about it." She could feel the outrage emanate from Kaiba the second she turned her back to him.

Opening the doors she was met with the final push Kaiba had not planned on using. Mokuba stood wide eyed and big smiles in the doorway," Are you really going to be teaching big brother and I, Tea? Please say yes, it would be the coolest thing ever!"

'What makes this worse is the growing sense of victory oozing off of Kaiba right now.' Hanging her head in defeat she turned to the smirking Kaiba and growled," Fine, I'll be your dance instructor. Give me any problems about the lessons and I teach Mokuba only, got it? Now would you send my clothes back to my house?" Tea barely managed not to smile when Mokuba cheered in jubilation and ran off to his room to look for appropriate dance clothes.

Kaiba's smirk barely budged when he informed her (rather evilly)," You seem to have missed some information. By agreeing to be our dance instructor you also agree to stay here until our lessons are done. You see my work schedule is very sporadic when it comes to available time, so I need you to be available for anytime." If it weren't for the loss of her dance school opportunity and the scarring of Mokuba's young mind Tea would have killed Seto Kaiba on the spot.


	6. So It Begins

**J: I did not receive any reviews yet, which is understandable seeing as some of my first few chapters made you TeaXSeto fans go "UUGGH!" From how familiar it looked. Let's face it people, there's not a lot of ways to get Tea into Seto's house, and there's even less likely hood of him going into hers :P I promise it changes back towards the whole main plot. Just gotta push through the other chapters! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Whoever is reading this has probably thought the same thing as I am right now. The disclaimers are only used to make us sadder because we already know we don't own these awesome people and places!**

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Chapter Five- So It Begins!**

"Guess what? I'll be staying with a friend after all…No, it's not Yugi, Joey, or Tristan…No, it's not Mai or Serenity either…I'm staying with my oh so good friend Mokuba and Seto Kaiba…That's right, Seto Kaiba…Yup, more or less I'm being held against my will as their dance instructor…No, I don't think telling Dad would be a good idea, jerk wad or not we don't need more legal problems because Dad destroyed Kaiba's place with an army raid…Okay, I'll call again tomorrow then, night mom, love you." Tea hung up the phone and sighed. It had been three hours since Kaiba had so nicely informed her that she wouldn't be able to go home until she was done being their dance teacher. She was at home for the moment, but only to get everything she would need for an overnight stay that would last more than a week, if not longer. She'd packed her tooth brush, deodorant, hair brush, and other unmentionables. Her ride back to prison had arrived ten minutes ago, but she refused to leave the safety of her own home until she called her mom to give her an update. Mrs. Gardener was more than exhausted after that phone call alone.

Tea did one more run through the house to make sure that everything was off and nothing could cause a fire. All the lights turned off and her overnight bag in hand Tea left the house and locked the door behind her.

Her escort was a totally different guy that looked to be over 60 years old, 'He must have used some weird technology and read my mind. God forbid I find any happiness in the beginning of my prisoner life.' Rolling her eyes Tea stepped into the limo and let herself be taken away back to Kaiba Hell.

Tea couldn't help but smile when she exited the limo and found Mokuba waiting on the first step before grabbing hold of her hand and dragging her into the house," I'll give you a tour, otherwise you'll get lost. Oh! And I have to show you…Not my room! Never mind! I'll show you where my door is, but you can't go in my room yet. Oh, and I definitely have to show you where Seto's room is so you don't accidentally walk in on him sleeping or something. Do you want to play my new game with me after supper?"

"Mokuba, did you eat sugar for lunch?" Tea stopped the motor mouth tween in the middle of the large hallway they'd walked into.

Mokuba actually stopped to think over the question and smiled brightly at Tea," Pretty much I guess. Seto let the chef have today off so I had to make my own lunch. So I had toast with peanut butter and sugar sprinkled on top, and I had a can of Rock Star to go with it. This is the door to my room! And that's the door to my brother's room. Oh, and your room is over there, do you want to see it?" Tea didn't even get to answer and was dragged to the bedroom two door past Seto's.

Tea had just expected a plain bedroom with a bed, side table and lamp and small walk in closet. Instead she was met with a four poster canvas bed with an oak dresser, beautiful touch activated lamp, a small hallway sized walk in closet already filled with her clothes and a large screen TV hooked up with a DVD player and the latest game station. On the right side of the room was a large window covered with beautiful blue drapes. Hesitantly Tea pulled back the drapes to find a spectacular view of the sea that partially surrounded Domino City. Slack jawed Tea could just barely ask," H-how did I get a room like this?"

Beaming in pride Mokuba replied," When big brother decided to make you our dance instructor the other day he asked me what room you would like. I asked him if I could handle anything in your room, and he said I could do whatever I wanted. So do you really like it?"

Tea grabbed Mokuba in a big hug and spun him around in a circle," Are you kidding? This room is incredible! I love it Mokuba, thank you!" 'Maybe being their dance instructor won't be too much a nightmare as long as Mokuba takes care of things.'

"If you're done being a pair of homosapians then I suggest you familiarize yourself with the rest of the house." Seto had been walking by to get something from his room when he caught sight of Tea carelessly smothering his brother to death.

Tea let Mokuba go and faced Kaiba with an unimpressed expression," So sorry for acting like normal human beings. Just because you're smarter at some things doesn't mean I don't have enough intelligence to know what the word homosapian means." Tea took Mokuba's hand and dragged him out of the room rudely past Kaiba.

Mokuba waited until they were out of his brother's ear shot before sneakily whispering to Tea," Actually big brother was just making sure you're still smart. Last year after exams I heard Seto muttering about how you were his female equivalent in intelligence. Don't tell him I told you or he'll extend my grounding period. Now this is the kitchen as you can plainly see, and if you continue straight out that door you'll come to the door that leads to the Busy Body Basement. That's what I call it anyways. It's where Seto goes when he wants to exercise or physically release his frustrations." Tea listened to everything Mokuba told her to make sure she memorized all the info she needed in order to get around the building without ruining a certain someone's day.

As curious as Tea was to see this basement built to withstand Seto Kaiba's temper tantrums she felt it better to let Mokuba show her everywhere else so he could lose some of his sugar energy. It was past three and the kid showed no signs of slowing down. 'It was probably one of those really large cans of Rock Star…They should make the cans child proof.' Tea thought this as Mokuba led her down another hallway that only had one door. Mokuba smiled coyly in a cute childish way and asked," You wanna see what's behind the door? Because I can promise it will be worth the look."

"Well, when you suggest it as something that's absolutely wonderful of course I'll want to look. Just promise me that I'm not walking into a room filled with a bajillion posters of Kaiba because he likes to remind himself of how attractive he is when a girl actually rejects him." Mokuba rolled his eyes and shoved Tea towards the singular door. He backed up a few steps when she reached for the handle, and covered his ears when she pulled the door open.

Tea had been expecting a tiger or some other kind of exotic pet to be lurking in the backyard, instead she found herself staring at a gigantic swimming pool shaped like a Blue Eyes White Dragon. The head was a closed off hot tub and the tail had a large water slide that went straight into the deep end which was the Blue Eyes' mid-section. A huge smile spread over Tea's face, turning to Mokuba (who had thought she'd scream about the hot tub) she practically begged," Can we go swimming? Please? I love water slides. Can we go, please?"

Mokuba and his lingering sugar buzz ripped off his shirt to show that his shorts were in fact swimming trunks, giving her a cheesy thumbs up and smile combination he teased," I'm ready, and you have five minutes to get changed before I go in without you." Tea had bolted at the word 'five.'

Seto Kaiba was on his way to the basement to vent his current headache generously provided by his press representative harassing him to make more public appearances. He'd just reached the door when he felt a gust of wind pass behind him. It was usually Mokuba flying to the door to get his new mail ordered game, but at that current point in time it was Tea with a large smile on her face. 'Mokuba must have shown her the hot tub, I will never understand why –' 'fwoosh' Seto's thought was interrupted by Tea once more flying past him, only she was wearing a bikini two piece that was black with thin rainbow stripes going diagonally across the front and back of both pieces. 'Never thought a girl could change that quickly…' Seto looked from the door to the basement back to the flying figure that was Tea Gardener. Too curious to resist he followed after the swimsuit clad teenager.

He turned the corner just in time to see Tea and Mokuba rush out the back door. Both runners went straight for the water slide that Mokuba must have started while Tea had changed. Whenever Mokuba brought his classmates over the females ones flinched away from the slide due to the water temperature. Tea on the other hand jumped right over Mokuba's head to go down the spiraling slide first. Seto's gaze traveled away from the hyper active monkeys and over to the bubbling hot tub. After a time check and much debate Seto finally retreated from the door and went to his bedroom to locate his long since used swim shorts.

Tea surfaced from the cold water in a big enough way to get more water on Mokuba's wet lion's mane. Floating on her back she sighed," Alright, I give up."

"Huh? Were we just fighting or something?" Mokuba stopped mid splash when Tea had said that. He could have sworn he didn't even initiate the splash war yet.

Her azure eyes focused on the cloudless sky above she explained to the confused tween," No, I was fighting with myself. I thought for sure I could convince myself not to like this place 'cause of your brother practically trapping me here. But it's just not possible for me to not like this place!"

"Good to know Gardener, now I won't have to order that electric shock collar." Seto's unannounced arrival caught Tea by surprise and sent her under the water. When she resurfaced Seto was just sitting down in the hot tub.

Seto couldn't remember the last time he'd been in the hot tub and he seriously needed to consider using it more often. The hot water and massaging jets were bliss for his stressed body. "Wow Seto, didn't expect you to be joining us. Actually, I didn't think you were ever going to use your swim shorts again." Mokuba grinned when Seto just gave a lazy wave to indicate he didn't want to be bothered.

Tea stuck her tongue out at the back of Seto's head and turned her attentions back to Mokuba, who at that moment was heading to the slide again. She quickly followed suit and climbed up the ladder after her young companion. At the top Tea could get a clearer view of everything in the area, including Seto's face. Squinting to focus more she made out his relaxed features and slow lifting shoulders. 'He's asleep already? We can't have any of that!' Broadening her gaze she found exactly what she needed.

Mokuba had gone down the slide and ended with a beautiful cannon ball, the resulting splash caused enough water to fly in Seto's direction and hit his exposed back. Seto cracked open an eye enough for Mokuba to receive a glare. At the same time he was glaring he caught sight of Tea quietly making her way towards the garden hose and an old empty bucket. Closing his eye and returning to his sleeping appearance Seto could only smirk on the inside. 'There are a lot of things that can catch me by surprise Gardener, and sneak water attacks aren't one of them.' He was definitely going to enjoy the next few minutes.

Tea hadn't caught the last second in which Seto was fully conscious, Mokuba on the other hand was making his way back up the ladder. He knew what Tea was planning, and he also knew what Seto was going to do. Perched at the top he made himself perfectly comfortable and waited for the show to start. 'Should have brought the video camera out…Oh! Never mind, I can watch it on the surveillance cameras later.'

The bucket in hand Tea tip toed over to the pool and scooped up enough water to fill the bucket half way. Going even slower to prevent the water from sloshing in it's container Tea got just close enough to be within splashing distance. Changing the position of the bucket she steadied herself to make a run for it and just began to swing the bucket forward. She was halfway through her swing when Seto spun around, lunged forward and grabbed her by her arm, falling back into the hot tub he took her down with him.

Seto couldn't resist bowing in Mokuba's direction when he burst into laughter. Mokuba though he was laughing hard, still didn't miss it when Tea resurfaced and jumped onto Seto's back and latched on in a death grip. Slightly staggered but still sturdy Seto growled and reached for the infernal woman on his back," What the hell are you doing Gardener? Get off!"

Tea managed to duck out of Seto's reach each time he attempted to grab her and continued to smile in triumph," I'm not getting off until I dunk you Kaiba!"

Kaibe ceased his attempts to pry her off and instead developed a very unsettling smirk that only Mokuba could see. 'I can see where this is going and it won't end well. It will end hysterically!' Mokuba thought this when Seto took hold of Tea's legs. In a voice much too sultry for Tea to be comfortable in her position he said," Fine, I don't mind getting a little wet. Let's see how long you can hold your breathe Gardener."

Tea wanted to threaten him to rethink his decision but the sensation of falling backwards made her hold her breathe quickly right before she was submerged. She didn't miss that Seto had yet to release her legs and somehow she just knew that he was still smiling. 'Little does he know that part of dancing is working on breathe control. I can't wait to see his expression when I beat him!' Her own smirk of confidence on she crossed her arms and waited for the moment when Seto would release her legs and go up without her.

Mokuba stood by the edge of the hot tub with his waterproof watch in front of him to how the stop watch function. The numbers showed four seconds and counting with no sign of either of them surfacing anytime soon. 'Who will win? Seto and his unwanted martial arts lessons, or Tea and her rigorous dancing?...Why couldn't there be someone else around to make bets with?' Sighing at his misfortune Mokuba refocused on his wrist watch. It read almost six seconds, glancing at the water's surface he saw streams of bubbles without any clue as to who they were coming from. At six seconds 21 millaseconds the water broke from both Tea and Seto surfacing at the same time. Mokuba's voice was filled with wonder when he told them," Wow, you two are impressive! You both broke big brother's old record from last year."

Seto gave Tea the smallest of looks showing a flicker of acknowledgement as a decent rival this round. Tea pushed her overgrown bangs out of her eyes in order to give Kaiba a reproachful glare for his unnecessary drowning attempt. At the moment she did Seto caught sight of a golden flash from her forehead. Suddenly feeling very tired Tea hoisted herself out of the hot tub, to explain herself to the bewildered Mokuba she said kindly," As much fun as I've been having I don't think I can keep going. I did only get close to three or four hours of sleep. Think you can have fun without me Mokuba?"

Although she showed a smile Mokuba could see something else going on with Tea through her eyes. It wasn't pain exactly, but something harmful was happening to Tea that she wasn't saying. Deciding that she would talk when ready Mokuba nodded his head and watched Tea walk away.

Seto had not only seen the unspoken ailment through her eyes he'd also seen some kind of golden red tinted glow surrounding Tea's whole form. It lasted only a brief second but that was all he needed to get a bad feeling for the future.

Tea flopped onto her swanky four poster bed with a big sigh. 'What the hell just happened? One second I'm feeling better than life for almost whooping Kaiba's ass, then it feels like something went straight through my heart. Next thing I know I'm ready to fall asleep! Maybe I ate something bad.' Tea's thoughts were as quiet as she was tired, she'd barely managed to get out of her swimsuit and into her blue silk pajama shorts and tank top. At that moment she felt more than happy just to melt into the soft blankets she was laying on. As her eyelids began to flutter shut a fleeting image of a smug white haired jerk came to mind.

"Poor pathetic Tea, that little soul tap alone left her weak." This voice echoed from the darkness in a tone that was both elegant and demonic.

Bakura sat on a lone floating platform with the millennium ring's light surrounding him. His dark brown eyes glared towards the spot he believed the voice had come from. His voice gruff from irritation he warned the unseen speaker," Once a day, that was the agreement. You get her energy and I get her, if you attempt to drain her more than once she won't be able to recover fast enough for any soul taps for at least a week, you understand that wretch?" The response of waspish laughter only made Bakura even more annoyed. If he didn't need the blasted irritation's information and abilities he never would have gotten in touch with her in the first place.


	7. Lesson One : Do Not Disrespect

**J: Lookie lookie here be another chapter! I won't lie, I am kinda sad that my reviewers have dropped but it won't stop me from continuing to post chapters! I have faith that the odd person here and there will enjoy enough to review :3**

**THANKS TO:** girlrock250297 **(You have indeed placed your bet wisely ;3)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Yugioh, nor do I own the play 'The Sound of Music' that I simply mention in this chapter.  
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Chapter Six – Lesson One: Do Not Disrespect**

Tea couldn't tell if she'd slept for hours or minutes when a light knock on the door woke her up. Sitting up she called out sleepily," Come in unless you're Seto Kaiba."

The door cracked open to show a rather worried looking Mokuba, he approached slowly at first in apprehension of Tea being a grumpy bear like his brother when he was awake for the first few minutes. When he caught sight of a dopey lopsided smile Mokuba lost his worry and jumped up next to Tea," Are you feeling okay now Tea?"

"I think after I've eaten something I'll feel a hundred percent and ready to tackle any challenge." Tea's reassuring smile made Mokuba smile like a thousand suns.

"It's good to hear you say that since it's supper time now. We're having my favorite, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, roast beef and broccoli with cheese sauce. And for dessert-" Mokuba was abruptly stopped by Tea putting a hand over his mouth.

His worried confusion of maybe upsetting Tea's stomach dissipated when Tea groaned," Please stop before I end up eating my pillow and creating a river of drool." Mokuba laughed along with Tea as all his earlier concerns about her health subsided.

Tea shooed Mokuba out of her bedroom in order to clean up her appearances. She refused to change out of her comfy pajamas but decided she could at least brush her hair and teeth so as not to confuse Mr. Kaiba.

Mokuba was of course out in the hallway waiting for her and the sight of her still clad in pajamas only made him laugh at what his big brother would do upon seeing her. Tea bet that Seto would immediately leave the room with his food to go to his office, Mokuba met that wager by guessing he would just insult her some way or other then ignore her entirely. The winner of the bet would get to try Mokuba's new game first.

Tea's stomach must have entered the kitchen before she did because her stomach began growling loudly five steps from the kitchen door. When she actually opened it Tea could have sworn her stomach began to dance in merriment. Everything was already set for the three diners and one of them had beaten the other two by three seconds.

Kaiba was just pulling his chair up to the table when Mokuba and Tea walked in snickering. When he looked up and saw Tea's choice in clothing for the evening he could not stop the next few words that came out of his mouth," Looks like someone's made themselves right at home. I feel entirely underdressed now." Kaiba didn't miss the small victory smirk Mokuba gave Tea as she proudly strut over to the seat right across from him. 'I'll learn what that was about later from Mokuba, the security cameras, or possibly even Gardener.'

Having adjusted her seat she smiled warmly to respond in a sugar sweet way," Well I didn't have much choice in staying or going, so I decided to make the best of things by acting the same way I would in my own house." Tea made sure Kaiba could translate her message that actually meant, 'Like hell I'm going to doll up just for you at meal times.' Kaiba got the message and responded with a very cold stare that she interpreted as, 'You ruin my image, and you are SO dead.'

Despite the hostile transition that passed in the beginning Mokuba felt supper went over quite well. He'd noted that his brother took notice of Tea's very polite table mannerisms. Unlike most of the members in Yugi's group of friends Tea could actually eat without showing her mashed up food in her mouth, she held the fork and knife correctly, and she never talked unless she was done chewing and swallowing her food. An idea struck Mokuba just when the dessert was being served, 'I bet I can really make Seto see Tea's awesomeness.' A big bright smile on he asked to no one in general," So I have to do a book report presentation this Friday, any good books I could use?"

Tea took a nibble of her cherry pie and searched her mental library for something that would be in Mokuba's interests. Mulling over Mokuba's likes and a guess at his reading level brought her to one possibility," You might like Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code.' Some of it might be a little hard for your first read through, but some research will make it easier. It'll totally blow your teacher away too, I promise. Don't give me that surprised look Kaiba, it doesn't suit you." Tea gave Kaiba an exasperated glare while pointing with her fork. She was use to her friends looking at her like she'd grown a third head when she said something intelligent, but on Seto Kaiba surprise didn't seem a like a fitting facial expression.

Mokuba had to shove a big piece of pie in his mouth to stop from laughing at his success. The last time he'd seen that much surprise on Seto's face was when he'd been soundly beaten at chess by his baby brother. Seeing it then was priceless, seeing it at that moment was hysterical. Especially since he knew that Seto already knew she was smart. His laughter settled for the moment Mokuba quickly swallowed and replied," Thanks Tea, my teacher will be flabbergasted! Oh, big brother, do you know when we can have our first dance lesson?" At this Tea focused her attention on Kaiba in a more curious manner. She was the one that had to teach them after all.

Kaiba took a thoughtful bite of his pie while he went over his schedule. After the soak in the hot tub he'd managed to do more than his usual output of work. He hadn't planned on having his first lesson on the first day of her arrival. In fact he'd thought about doing it at some ridiculous time in the night the next day just to piss off Gardener. He decided he could still do that and make his brother happy. His food swallowed he replied to the hanging question," Our first lesson is in a half hour. Hope You have a lesson plan Gardener." His trade mark snide smirk was for once challenged by Tea's own smirk.

'I'm going to enjoy putting you in your place Kaiba.' Tea felt that her smirk alone was enough to throw Kaiba off kilter and kept this thought to herself. She finished her slice of pie and got to her feet, confidently walking to her room she called back over her shoulder," You'll need loose clothing for your first lesson, trust me."

Kaiba suddenly got a chill, a chill that spoke of humiliation he'd only brought upon himself. 'I can handle ANYTHING Gardener can think of, there's way she'll have nay other advantage besides experience over me.'

**-In front of the basement door a half hour later-**

"For a business man I never thought your brother could be late for anything." Tea noted this when glancing at her cell phone after texting Yugi. Kaiba had said a half hour, but he was late by almost ten minutes already. Being it her first lesson she'd chosen to wear something slightly professional looking. Tea wore a traditional black spandex one piece with nothing but bare feet. Mokuba stood next to her with a semi pout wearing what must be his gym uniform. Dark green spandex breathable shorts and a gold t-shirt to accompany it.

The sound of foot steps brought their attention to the left and both turned to find what appeared to be a slightly embarrassed Seto Kaiba. Out of his black long sleeved shirt and dominating trench coat Kaiba was very uncomfortable in casual clothing. The best thing he could find for this kind of activity was a black t-shirt and grey sweat pants. Upon seeing the black shirt a flash of another male wearing something similar came to mind. Pushing it from her thoughts she addressed Kaiba," It's about time Kaiba, I was about to let Mokuba get a head start on you."

"You seem to be forgetting who exactly is paying you for these lessons Gardener. I only have an hour or so at most for this so I suggest you get moving." Kaiba may have been underdressed, but he refused to be spoken to like on of her geek squad friends.

Mokuba ignored the escalating tension and opened the door to the basement. Taking the lead sp Tea could see where to go he walked briskly down the slightly spiraled staircase.

Tea wasn't one to be bothered too much by closed in spaces but her trip to the Oblivion Zone in the summer had left her rather anxious to be anywhere far below ground. She could feel Kaiba's growing irritation as she descended slowly out of automatic caution, she never took notice that he was watching her closely not from frustration or annoyance, but out of curiosity.

Kaiba had taken note of Gardener's hesitation in advancement down the steps and yet he felt no compulsion to tell her to hurry up. Instead he watched for any sign or cue that would explain that would explain this odd behaviour. He'd also caught sight of some fleeting emotion he barely identified as longing when she had laid eyes on him in his attire. Although many of his fan girls had batted lust filled eyes in his direction he'd never seen the depth that Gardener had shown. What's more he knew that longing wasn't meant for him, it was for someone that he must have reminded her of. Which honestly made him feel slightly agitated, he didn't know why but it did.

His attention came back to the present when they got off the last step. Kaiba's already larger than life pride took another notch up when he heard Tea gasp," This is one hell of a basement you guys have. I'm pretty sure the Domino Gym doesn't even have half of these work out equipment." What Tea found in the basement of the Kaiba mansion could only be called ridiculous. The room they'd walked into seemed to be organized with five to six types of equipment for certain parts of the body exactly. Tea lost count after thirty something and just let it be.

Mokuba took hold of her hand and led her through the muscle building machinery to another door way she'd missed. Through this door she was introduced to her studio, an absolutely perfect studio. It was large, hard wood tiled, had a complete wall of mirrors with a balance bar going end to end. It even had a piano for classical dances tucked into a back corner. For the CDs they'd be using most there was a large multidisc CD player with two decently sized speakers. With a perfect studio such as this Tea could hold no grudge against Kaiba.

Kaiba and Mokuba were startled when Tea suddenly grabbed fistfuls of her hair and spun around to glare him," Ugh! You're making it absolutely impossible to hold a grudge against you for tricking me!"

Relieved that she wasn't actually mad and vicious Kaiba shrugged casually with a smirk. Just to see her next reaction he replied," Not my fault I'm so likeable. Now are you going to teach or yell?" By the hardening of her eyes he could tell she wanted to yell, thinking better of it she took a deep breathe and walked over to the balance bar.

Making herself sound as professional as possible she pointed to the bar and instructed," Start with stretches, I want to see how flexible you guys are in general. After that I want to see the extent of your step knowledge, and I know you know at least one dance Kaiba. I've seen footage of your Kaiba celebrations for the company."

"Didn't know you were a fan Gardener." He didn't know why but the thought of Tea Gardener, one of the few women in the world that gave him a hard time, keeping tabs on his social events lightened his turbulent stream of thinking.

Tea had the end of her toes curled around the balance bar with her leg perfectly straight. Bending side ways to touch her toes she made sure Kaiba could see her eye roll as he was doing the same. Keeping her breathing in a practiced pattern she explained," For you information, I watch your social events for my mom. You do remember that she works for you right?" Kaiba's own eye roll and change in stretching direction was his response.

Tea looked over at Mokuba to find him doing a stretch she recognized from her own junior high days. Finished her bar stretching she sat down on the floor next to Mokuba and watched the extent of his reach. His legs were spread as far as they could go and Mokuba was stretching his arms forward right in the middle until he had to continue by slowly pulling himself further forward with his fingers. When he got as far as he could reach he counted to five then slowly sat back up. When he was upright Tea gave him a big smile," That was great Mokuba, and when you're done with my lessons you'll be the best at that stretch. But that's only if you're willing to hurt and let me help."

Mokuba saw what Tea was doing and appreciated it. Instead of acting like a teacher that would have stepped in and helped without asking Tea was acting like a friend and acknowledged the extent of his current limit and was offering to help him improve. Beaming back at her he replied," Thanks Tea, that would be great." Tea nodded and got to her feet. Standing behind Mokuba she moved with him and slowly pushed on his back to stretch as far as was possible without breaking him in half. Like the man he wished to be Mokuba didn't utter a word of complaint and Tea knew what kind of pain he was probably feeling. After the count of five she eased up to let him relax.

Turning to Kaiba who had been watching (probably to make sure she didn't hurt him more than necessary) Tea pointed to the floor and instructed," Your turn Kaiba."

"You can't be serious Gardener."

"Absolutely. Mokuba should see the extent he could reach at your age, or even younger depending on his devotion." Just as Mokuba had snared Tea into teaching, he was also snaring his older brother into cooperating.

Sighing through his nose Seto plopped down on the cold floor and sent his baby brother a look that clearly promised consequences for this. Spreading his legs Seto leaned forward as much as his spine would allow, and when he was about to sit upright he felt a pair of hands on his back. Tensing up he growled over his shoulder," Get your hands off Gardener."

"Nope, Mokuba got help and so are you." 'And this will teach you to show me some respect when we're in here.' Tea's response and thoughts were put into effect instantly as she began to gradually add weight on Kaiba's back and push him even further forward. When she was sure he was feeling it she stopped and counted to five then removed her hands so he could sit up.

Tea might not have noticed but Mokuba's keen little eyes caught sight of the crease between Seto's eyebrows that indicated the pain he must have felt. Feeling bad for his brother Mokuba demanded," You have to show us your limit Tea, it's only fair."

"Sure, it should be interesting to see how well I do, last time I did this stretch was my first day of dance classes as a test." Tea's mind wandered down memory lane as she sat and spread her legs almost to the point of splits. Slowly she leaned forward with her arms straight out in front of her. Her chest was barely touching the floor when she felt someone pushing on her back. From the amount of space the hands covered she immediately guessed it was Kaiba attempting to put her in pain for what she'd done to him.

When she got as far as her upper torso could reach she heard Mokuba exclaim," Wow Tea, I didn't think that was even possible for a human body." She would have responded if she wasn't keeping her breathing level in order to handle the pain she was experiencing.

After five seconds Kaiba backed off so she could sit back up. It'd been a while since she'd attempted to do the splits, so getting to her feet brought it's own new kind of pain. Even when she tried not to show it Kaiba picked up on her small facial tweaks to indicate it, smirking he jested," Seems someone is rustier than they knew. Maybe we should start with the robot?"

"Ha ha ha, very funny Kaiba. And if you must know the dance I've been working on at my classes barely uses my thigh muscles so I've felt no need to stretch them as often. Now stop harassing me and show me what you know so far." Tea took dancing and anything to do with it seriously. Insults were definitely not welcome about it around her.

Kaiba crossed his arms to plant himself where he stood, in a tone that was more for office meetings when addressing idiots that had made an error then addressing a teacher he huffed," You've already stated that you know I can dance. I see no point in showing you something you've already seen."

Her eyebrow twitched in warning before the onslaught he hadn't expected. Tea approached him slowly with no verbal indications of what she was doing, so when she used a low round house kick to unplant him then a swift over the shoulder toss to throw him on the floor he was completely unprepared. Mokuba let out a low whistle in amazement, he never knew Tea was a fighter.

Putting a foot on his chest Tea glared down at him and said in a tone meant only for him," Lesson number one: Do no disrespect. You do as I say or you do nothing at all. Am I clear Mr. Kaiba?"

The frozen glare that Kaiba gave her would have sent even Joey running. Never had he been so humiliated by anyone except Yugi and Gozaboro, to add insult to injury it was Tea, the frick'n cheerleader, Gardener that had brought him down, and in front of his brother too. His voice anything but pleasant Seto growled through clenched teeth," Fine, now get off."

"Tea do you think you could teach me what you just did to Seto?" Mokuba wasn't trying to be mean to his brother who had just suffered a major blow to his pride and ego, he just thought that was a really cool thing to learn.

Tea's stern attitude relaxed back to what it had been a minute before, a small smile on she asked," Do you want to learn for genuine self defense or just for the fun of it?"

"What answer do I need to give for you to teach me?" Playing it cute always worked with his brother, who looked ready to add his own say in the matter.

"Neither of those answers, or anything else you could say to me would make me teach that to you Mokuba." Tea's rather cold response made Mokuba's smile vanish and Seto's opinion of her change once again.

Turning to the sore older brother Tea asked," How much time do we have left? Depending on the answer I can start teaching Mokuba instead."

Seto glanced from his watch back to the female terror that stood before him. For some reason he couldn't identify Seto felt that the sooner she got to see the extent of his current dance knowledge the sooner things would go back to normal. "Don't worry about the time. I'll show you what I know then this lesson is over." Tea merely shrugged and went over to the stereo system.

Pulling out her ipod (which had been safetly tucked in the front of her outfit) she hooked it up and stated," The waltz I saw you do before was self taught from 'The Sound of Music' right?" At Seto's slight nod she continued," So besides that is there any other dances you know?" When he gave a tiny head shake Tea smiled," Great, then we'll start with the waltz and if I'm satisfied with your foot work then I'll teach you something entirely different if that's what you want."

To both Kaibas' minor amusement Tea had put on the very same song that played during the ballroom scene from 'The Sound of Music.' As soon as the instruments started Tea confidently walked back to Kaiba and put her hands on the appropriate places for the dance. Doing the same by putting one hand on her shoulder and the other on her hip they counted in their heads to match the music and began to waltz. Mokuba watched in rapture as his brother and best female friend danced around the room more elegantly than Mokuba ever thought possible…for his brother that is.

What few people of their school knew was that Tea had been the one to teach most of the actors the steps for the school's production of 'The Sound of Music.' Dancing with Kaiba she was very impressed, his rhythm was in sync with her own and his foot work was smooth and fluent. At the end of the song she smiled as wide as her mouth would let her," For someone who's self taught themselves that dance I am highly impressed and see no need for further improvement." Seto had been told by numerous other people something following those same words, hearing it from them meant nothing him. Hearing it from the woman that had kicked his ass five minutes ago made him feel proud of himself. Which surprised and bothered him further,' I've just finished one day with her and she's already messing up my mind. I need to get back to work.'

Heading for the door Seto said over his shoulder," I'm finished for today. Mokuba can only stay up for one more hour, then its bed." Seto waited for the head nod that both gave him before leaving to get back to his office.


End file.
